Spurs hoping Richarlison injury recovery to be in weeks, not months

When news emerged that Richarlison was returning to Tottenham Hotspur from the World Cup in Qatar with a hamstring injury, I hopefully wondered if the fact that he played the majority of Brazil’s quarterfinal loss to Croatia meant that his injury might not be as bad as feared. I guess it depends on your definition of “not as bad.” A report in the Times (£) today says Richarlison might be out a month, which could have knock-on effects on Harry Kane’s return to the side.

Spurs are still waiting on the results of a scan that Richarlison had after his return to London, and that scan will likely tell us a lot more about how long he’ll be on the sidelines. But even the best case scenarios are suggesting he’ll not only miss all of the festive period fixtures, but also the home NLD on January 15 and possibly longer.

This also scuttles pretty much any chance Harry Kane had of getting some rest after the World Cup. Richarlison is Kane’s primary backup at his position, and with him out it means Kane’s basically going to be thrust right back into the position starting with the Boxing Day fixture at Brentford. The Times reports that Kane is set to return to training on Monday.

Boy, this doesn’t feel great, does it? There are suggestions that Spurs are looking for an offensive addition to the squad when the January window opens, and while we assumed that it would be a rotation option for Dejan Kulusevski, now I wonder if it might be a player who can, at least in a pinch, also fill in as a #9. And I shudder to think about what Spurs might do if Kane, who has been run like a racehorse this season, goes down with an injury of his own.